Cable-gripping mechanism



2 Shegts-Sheet An v 1 r I I INVENTOR;

A. D. WHITTON.

Patented Dec. 13,1887.

N PC1815 Phnto-ljlmguphar. Walhinglnlv. DJ;-

(No Model.).

CABLE GRIPPING MECHANISM.

Wnwgssas UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREXV D. WHITTON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CABLE-GRIPPING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,767, dated December 13, 1887.

Application filed May 24, 1887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW D. WHIT'ION, of Philadelphia, in the county of. Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented cer-' tain new and useful Improvements in Gable- Gripping Mechanism, of which improvement,

the following is an explicit and exact specification, enabling one skilled in the art to make and construct the same.

' My invention relates to that class of cablegrips the upperpart of which is secured to the body or truck of a tramway-car and extends downward through a continuous slot running parallel with the rails of the track upon which U the car runs, said grip being provided with jaws for gripping an endless traveling cable running in a conduit and situated below the level of the road-bed, the jaws being actuated from the platform of the car by means of a hand-lever and appropriateconnecting mechanism under the control of the gripman.

Heretofore grips of this description have been secured to the car body or truck in such a manner as to allow for lateral and vertical play, but otherwise have been permanently connected to the same in such a manner that they could only be detached by the removal of bolts, screws, pins, or keys. It frequently occurs that the gripping mechanism becomes jammed and refuses to operate, either through imperfect workmanship, wear and tear of parts or damage due to rough usage,and even when none of these causes exist the grip occasionally fails to release the cable through the stranding of the latter. Accidents of the most serious character, entailing loss of life and property, have been occasioned by the failure of the grip to free itself instantaneously under the impulse of the gripmanshand. In a muchtraveled thoroughfare intercepting other equally frequented avenuessuch as occur in anylarge citythe gripman of atractioncar is kept continually on the alert and finds it frequently necessary to check his car in full career and to bring it to a dead halt within a very few feet. This he effects by opening the grip and applying the brakes simultaneously; but if at this critical juncture the grip fails him and there is no other means of severing the connection between the cable and the. car he loses all control over the latter until it meets Serial No 239,250. (No model.)

with an obstruction having sufficient inertia to rupture the grip-shank or the cable. It is difficult to estimate the possible damage which might result before or at the time of this octhe griprframe, so that they may straddle snugly two vertical cylindrical pins or studs dependent, one from a rectangular and the other from a cylindrical horizontalbar. These bars slide horizontally and laterally in rigid bearings or guides upon the truck or car frame, which are respectively rectangular and cylindrical, to conform in section with the bars to which they serve as guides or bearings. The

' lower ends of the dependent pins are provided with collars or flanges, upon which the crosshead or upper part of the grip-frame rests when in its normal position. The stud-pin dependent from the rectangular bar, by reason of the rectangular shape thereof, is maintained at all times in a vertical position; but the cylindrical bar is capable of rotary motion upon its axis, and consequently the pin de pendent therefrom can be swung away from the bifurcated end of the grip cross-head which it supports. A projection upon the cylindrical bar simultaneously throws the rod which connects the grip hand-lever with the gripping device free from the same, thus severing all connections between the car and grip ping frame and jaws. Rotary movement is imparted to the horizontal cylindrical bar by means of a hand-lever upon the platform of the car, connected by a horizontal rod with an arm rigidly fixed upon the cylindrical bar before mentioned. The grip thus unsupported falls of its-own weight upon the flanges of the slot of the conduit and is dragged away by the cable, while application of the brake immediately stops the car. It is convenient to place the three hand-leversto wit, the grip, brake, and releasin g levers-side by side upon the platform within immediate reach of the gripman.

The nature of my improvements and the manner in which they are to be carried out and operated will be understood, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a vertical longitudinal section through the body and frame of an ordinary passenger coach or car, with the grip and my improvements shown in elevation. Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is a horizontal section on the line w of Fig. 1, with part offlooring of the car broken away, showing a plan view of the working parts of the truck, grip, brake, and releasing devices. Fig. 3,Shcet 2, is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the forward part of car shown in Fig. l, embodying my improvements; and Figs. 4., 5, and 6, Sheet 2, show details of the lever, lever-stand, and section of cross-head of grip-frame respectively.

A frame or bridge, A, which in the drawings is shown as journaled upon the axles of the car-wheels, but which may be secured to the car-body, carries two transverse bars, a a, which slide laterally through and are maintained in position by boxes I) b b b, bolted upon the upper side of the bridge A. In the ordinary mode of construction all these boxes, as well as the two bars a a, are rectangular in section; but in my improvement only the rear bar and boxes are thus formed, the forward bar and boxes being cylindrical, so as to allow of rotation, for reasons to be hereinafter explained. At or near the center of each of these horizontal bars is a pin or stud, c a, hanging vertically downward, forming part of or being rigidly secured to the same. The lower extremity of these pins or studs is enlarged in the shape of a collar at dd, and serves as a support for the grip cross-head B.

The parts above described being old and well known in the art, and arranged as stated, for the purpose of allowing lateral play for the gripshank, form no part of my improvement, save as regards the cylindrical shape given to the forward bar, a.

An arm or lever, O, forming part of the bar to, projects upward at right angles thereto and at a slight angle from the vertical, the inclination being toward the forward end of the car. To the extremity of this arm is pivoted one end of a connecting-rod, D, the other end being similarly secured to a hand-lever, E, upon the platform of the car at a point sufficiently distant from the fulcrum of the latter to secure the required amount of travel.

The releasing hand-lever E, which I find it convenient to make in all respects similar to e the ordinary hand-lever in use for controlling the grip, is pivoted to a projectiomp, beneath, and oscillates within a slot in the plate P, secured to the front platform. Upon this plate P the brake and grip levers E E are also pivoted and oscillate in a similar manner, thus being in close juxtaposition to the releasinglever E, so that the latter may be instantly at command when needed. A pawl, F, upon the lever E is pressed downward by a spring, G, and is raised by the action of a handpiece, H, forming part of the handle, in the ordinary manner.

The construction of the levers controlling the grip and brake mechanism and their function are so well understood that it is not deemed necessary to enter further into their description. I will therefore confine myself to the description of the lever E, which I term the releasing-lever. Thislever is bifurcated at its lower end and straddles a plate, K, corresponding to the serrated arcs or racks provided for the other two levers. Between the two arms thus formed the pawl F swings freely and is pressed down upon the plate K by the spring G. The upper edge of the plate K forms an arc, the pivotal point of the lever E being the center thereof and is indented with a single deep notch, L, near its upper extremity, the rest ofthe are being smooth and free from indentation. Into this notch L the pawl F is pressed by the spring G when the hand-lever E is in its normal or vertical position.

The bell-crank lever m of the grip is provided at its upper extremity with a pin, a, which engages with a two-pronged weighted hook, l\I,-upon the rod N, which connects. the gripping mechanism with the hand grippinglever E upon the front platform. Then the rod N is raised sufficiently for the downwardprojecting prongs of the weighted hook M to clear the pin 72, all connection between the grip, grip-frame, and mechanism contained therein, on the one hand, and the actuating mechanism, by which terml designate the hand-lever upon the platform and the rod which connects it with the grip proper, on the other hand, is severed.

The cylindrical bara, which carries the arm 0, is also provided with a projecting arm, 0, immediately beneath the gripper-rod N, which is of sufficient width to remain under said rod during all possible lateral oscillations imparted to the grip by irregularities or divergencies from the normal line of the cable-conduit slot. This arm O, which may be in the form of a yoke or plate, is placed at such an angle relatively to the gripper-rod N and the arm 0 as to enable it to raise the rod N and its two-pronged weighted hook M clear of the pin 7b when the arm 0 is oscillated backward to its extreme position. As the arms 0 and O and the supporting pin or stud c are all rigidly connected with the axial bar a, it' follows that any oscillation imparted to one of these members will be simultaneously communicated to the other two.

The upper part of the grip-frame or crosshead is extended longitudinally, and the extremities, instead of terminating in eyes for the reception of vertical pins or studs standing upon the laterally-sliding bars,which is the common form of construction, are bifurcatedin the direction of. the longitudinal axis of the grip, as shown in section at S in Fig. 6, Sheet 2, which enables it to straddle the pins 0 c, which I place beneath the laterally-sliding bars, the grip cross-head resting upon collars or flanges formed upon the lower extremities of the said dependent pins or studs, as heretofore described.

A modification in the form of construction of the guard-netting at the front of the car, corresponding to the cowcatcher of the locomotive, has been rendered necessary. It simply consists in providing an opening therein at T of sufficient width and height to allow the freepassage ofthe grip when it is released from the car and carried along by the cable.

This opening is covered by a swing-door, V, of suitable design to conform with the rest of the netting. This door laps over the edges of the opening on the outside and can only open outwardly, when, having allowed the passage of the grip, it falls back into place by reason of its weight As the operation of my invention depends for its success upon immediate action,and as the hand-lever which controls it is to be employed in lieu of the ordinary gripping-lever and in connection with the brake, it is best that the lever E, which actuates the releasing mechanism, should be adjacent to or within instantaneous reach of the operator or gripman in charge. To this end I prefer that the three levers should be mounted upon a single plate, P, provided 'with lugs t t t upon its upper surface. Between these lugs, which are in pairs, are bolted the segmental racks which receive the pawls of their respective levers, the racks of the gripping and brake levers being serrated in the usual manner, while that of the grip-detaching lever is provided with only one notch, as already described. The upper ends of the racks are firmly bolted to the bed-plate. Three rectangular openings are cored out in the bed-plate beneath the racks of sufficient width to admit of the free passage of the levers and of snfl"1 cient length to permit their full oscillation.

Upon the under side of the plate are cast or forged hangers corresponding and on the same vertical plane as the racks above described, said hangers terminating in bearings at their lower extremity, through which a spindle passes, serving as a common fulcrum for the three levers. I

The operation of my device is substantially as follows: When it is necessary to instantly stop the car and the gripper-lever refiises to move or fails to effect the relaxing of the jaws of the grip, or the grip has become entangled in the strands of the cable, so that it cannot free itself, the gripmau instantly reverses the hand-lever E to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3.. This movement is tranferred through the rod D, pivoted to the lever E at f, to the arm 0 upon the sliding bar or shaft 0!, which is oscillated to the position shown in dotted lines at O. This causes a partial rotation of the bar a and an oscillation of the pin or stud c from beneath the cross-head which it supported. Simultaneously the arm 0, forming part of the rotating bar a, is'oscillated upvward, so as to throw the two-pronged hook M free of the bell-crank lever upon the grip. The altered position of the parts are all indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 3. When this movement has taken -place, it follows that the grip-frame, unsupported at one end, pulled away from its other support by the action of the cable, falls of its own weight upon the flanges of the slot of the conduit, as indicated by the dotted lines at B, and is dragged away by the cable through the opening in the cowcatcher, the gate of which,V, yields to its passage and then falls back into place. Simultaneously with the reversal of the grip-detaching hand-lever E, the gripman also applies the brake by reversing the brake hand-lever E, and the progress of the car is effectually checked. I

Although I have described at some length what I deem to be the most convenient mechanism for releasing the grip from its supporting frame-work when it is desired to sever it from the car, yet other mechanical devices will suggest themselves, and I do'not wish to limit myself to any particular form of mechanism.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. In a car propelled by a cable, the combination of a cable-carrying grip, a frame for supporting the grip, and the mechanism for entirely disconnecting the grip simultaneously from the frame and the car, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In acable car, the combination of the grip supported by two cross-bars, and the mechanism, substantially as described, for unlocking the grip fromits supports, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a-cable car, the combination of the grip cross-head B, the extremities of which are bifurcated and straddle the dependent supporting-pins c c, and the releasing mechanism by which one of these pins can be moved from its supporting position, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a cable car, the combination of the bifurcated grip cross-head B, the rotary bar a, the pin 0, and suitable mechanism for rotating the bar a, substantially as described.

5. In a cable car, the combination of thebifurcated grip cross-head B, the rotary bar a,

the projections O, O, and c, the lever E, and connecting-rod D, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a cable-grip, the pin a on the bellcrank of the grip, in combination with the hooks M at the end of the rod N, as .and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a cable car, the lever E, connected by the rod D with the arm 0 upon the rotating bar a, which bar carries also the-projection O, cow-catcher of a cable car, in combination the upward movement of which disengages with a releasable grip, as and for the purpose IO the rod N from the bell-crank lever in, and described.

also carries the pin 0, havin a flange at its Y 5 lower end, upon which rest? the bifurcated AL DREW D WHITTON' forward end of the grip cross-head B, all con] Vitnesses: bined substantially as described. J. N. WILKINS,

8. The swing-door V at the center of the GEORGE W. NORMAN. 

